Story of the Icelandic Yule Lads

Starting on December 12th, the Yule Lads arrive at nighttime to Icelandic homes, and leave small gifts for well-behaved kids in their shoes that the kids place in their windowsills at night. Naughty kids get a potato. Sometimes kids leave little gifts, snacks, or even a letter for each Yule Lad (Learn more).

How does a Yule Lad hire a personal assistant?

This year, the Yule Lads wanted to be extra nice to the kids due to COVID-19. They decided to hire a personal assistant to help with all the work. But this created a new problem. How were they going to find one?

What is the job-description for a Yule Lad assistant? Where should they publish the job advertisement? Did they have good enough employer brand (well they certainly hoped so!)? Would people be interested in applying to this busy job? And if people did apply; How are the Yule lads going to decide whom to hire?

This is when the lads heard about 50skills; job-boards, assessment and onboarding tools, all in one place. Configurable for automation and data collection. Exactly what the Yule Lads needed! Yay!

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In the end, 50skills helped them find the perfect personal assistant. The search for one, the qualifying process, and onboarding all went smoothly and saved lots of time. Most importantly, this hire is helping them bring more joy to every home on the island. Now they are here to share how they did it, each day before Christmas eve in Iceland.

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List of Icelandic Yule Lads and the night they arrive in town:

December 12th - Sheep-Cote Clod (i. Stekkjarstaur)‍

December 13th - Gully Gawk (i. Giljagaur)

December 14th - Stubby (i. Stúfur)

December 15th - Spoon-Licker (i. Þvörusleikir)

December 16th - Pot-Scraper (i. Pot-Scraper)

December 17th - Bowl-Licker (i. Askasleikir)

December 18th - Hurðaskellir (i. Door-Slammer)

December 19th - Skyrgámur (i. Skyr-Gobbler)

December 20th - Sausage-Swiper (i. Bjúgnakrækir)

December 21st - Window-Peeper (i. Gluggagægir)

December 22nd - Doorway-Sniffer (i. Gáttaþefur)

December 23rd - Meat-Hook (i. Ketkrókur)

December 24th - Candle-Stealer (i. Kertasníkir)

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The Icelandic Yule Lads hiring advice

Sheep-Cote Clod (i. Stekkjarstaur)‍

Historically Sheep-core Clod is known for harassing sheep, but is impaired by his stiff peg-legs. 

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1. Sheep-Cote Clod advice for hiring:
"Spread the news. Post your job post in all the places where it's free to post (e.g. your social media and free job-boards). For paid job-postings, pick the job-boards that you feel fits you best. After a few hires, you can track how many applicants arrive from each medium - and over time, measure which sourcing method works best for you in terms of time to hire and cost per hire."

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2. Gully Gawk advice for hiring:
"Write a clear job description. An unclear job description can easily scare away promising applicants. Keep the description concise. A great tip is to list out the competencies the candidate should be able to have after 3-6-12 months on the job."

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3. Stubby advice for hiring:
"Engage with your potential applicants. Post blogs and videos of your company culture. Show people why they should want to work for you. Share with others why it’s interesting to work for you as an employer. Share real challenges your employees solve."

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4. Spoon-Lickers' advice for hiring:

"Bulk actions are exceptional when moving multiple applicants to the next stage or rejecting candidates who are not qualified."

5. Pot-Lickers' advice for hiring:

"50skills’ filters make it easy to find the perfect candidate that fulfils all requirements."

6. Bowl-Lickers' advice for hiring:

"50skills has outstanding customer service, which was a lifesaver when we needed help with using the system."

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7. Door-Slammers' advice for hiring:

"With 50skills, we were able to hire and onboard 13 personal assistants in minutes."

8. Skyr-Gobblers' advice for hiring:

"50skills was able to integrate with all our internal systems making it easy to onboard our new hires."

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9. Sausage Swipers' advice for hiring:

"50skills’ onboarding form and e-signing  saved us time on creating contracts and getting them signed."

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10. Window-Peepers' advice for hiring:

"Being able to communicate with both the team and candidates within the system made the hiring process more manageable."

11. Doorway-Sniffers' advice for hiring:

"Video interviews saved us both time and money. We were able to meet candidates without the hassle of having to meet them in person in the early stages of the hiring process."

12. Meat-Hooks' advice for hiring:

"We, as well as the applicants, loved the easy application process with 50skills."

13. Candle-Stealers' advice for hiring:

"50skills is user-friendly for people that are non-technical. The learning process was short and easy."